Requires BIND 9.8 or later installed and configured locally on the Samba Active Directory (AD) domain controller (DC). For additional information, see Setting up a BIND DNS Server.

Requires knowledge about the BIND DNS server and how to configure the service.

Use this back end for complex DNS scenarios, you can not configure in the internal DNS.

If you are unsure which DNS back end to select during the DC installation, start with the Samba internal DNS. You can change the back end at any time. For details, see Changing the DNS Back End of a Samba AD DC.

Do not use the BIND9_FLATFILE DNS back end. It is not supported and will be removed in the future.

Selecting the AD Forest Root Domain

Before you provision your Active Directory (AD), you must select a DNS zone for your AD forest root domain. For details, see Active Directory Naming FAQ.

Samba does not support renaming the AD forest root domain.

Best practices:

Use a domain name you own.

Use a subdomain of your domain, such as ad.example.com.

Do not use .local domains. They can cause problems with Mac OS X and Zeroconf.